February

Mind the Gap! How to Manage Reputation Risk

Mind the Gap!
Copyright Stewart Chambers 

By Paula Vene Smith, Director of the Purposeful Risk Engagement Project, Professor of English and former Dean of Grinnell College, and URMIA Member.

Some risk managers think about damage to reputation as a consequence of other risks materializing. They would say that reputation is not a separate category of risk, but rather an indicator of whether risk management is going well or badly. URMIA member Harold Weston of Georgia State University goes a step further. He suggested in an URMIAnetwork discussion that the term "reputation" properly refers to an individual and shouldn’t be used with respect to a collective entity like a college or university.

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Wicked Problems in Genomics: Using Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Promote Responsible Advocacy in Addressing Genomic Risks

Wicked Problems in Genomics 
Copyright Ynse

By Dr. Nathan Myers, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Indiana State University, in conjunction with Indiana State University’s Center for Genomic Advocacy faculty: Dr. Judith Barad, Dr. Chia-An Chao, Dr. Rusty Gonser, Dr. Peter Mikolaj, Dr. Catherine Steding, Dr. Gary Stuart, and Dr. Elaina Tuttle.

From the time the map of the Human Genome was first published, clinical labs and the biotechnology industry have continued to improve, refine, and significantly lower the cost of sequencing and identifying DNA; i.e., the genes and their mutations. Over this period we have slowly begun to learn more about inherited genetic diseases caused by a single mutated gene and complex diseases caused by multiple genes. However, the mechanism(s) of how these genes work has proved to be much more elusive. Recently, findings from a major federal project studying the complicated system of switches that regulate genes, published in a series of papers in Nature (February 18, 2015) have the potential to provide answers to how these complex mechanisms function. A major benefit to understanding the interplay between genes and switches and the environment can lead to better diagnoses, interventions and treatments for human disease.

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 ISO 31000 Training

URMIA and the Public Risk Management Association (PRIMA) have teamed up to offer higher education and public sector risk managers a three-part training program designed to teach the application of enterprise risk management standards throughout their organizations. Registration for this workshop is discounted for all URMIA members.

In 2014, URMIA and PRIMA recruited and trained seven individuals in the principles and implementation methods of the ISO/ANSI/ASEE ISO 31000 Standard. These seven trainers along with one of the program consultants make up the PRIMA ISO 31000 faculty.

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Board Corner: Report from URMIA's Benchmarking Task Force

Report from URMIA's Benchmarking Task Force
Copyright MuseScore

By Steve Bryant, CRM, ARM, Managing Director of Risk Management and Emergency at Texas Tech University System, Past President of URMIA, and URMIA Board Member.

Benchmarking has been a topic of interest to the URMIA Board of Directors for several years, and there has been a great deal of discussion surrounding the topic. We all agree benchmarking can be useful; however, there are a plethora of opinions surrounding the nature of benchmarking. Simply attempting to define benchmarking as it applies to URMIA members and asking what we should benchmark sparks engaging discussions. Collegial debate follows regarding if and how the data should be grouped. Oh, and then we approach the topic of reporting, comparisons, exposure indices, and the list goes on. This is a challenging initiative to say the least.

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All About URMIA 
Copyright Anthony

Each year, URMIA hosts in-person regional and annual (national) conferences around the country, as well as online webinars designed to minimize your cost and time away from the office while maximizing your educational and networking opportunities. Read on to learn about ISO 31000 training from URMIA and PRIMA, URMIA's 2015 Regional Conference Series, and sponsoring or contributing to URMIA's premier risk management compendium, the URMIA Journal.

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 Latest Risk Management Resources
Copyright Dennis Jarvis

Each month, this article provides some of the latest risk management resources, as well as a calendar of upcoming events, webinars, conferences, and other learning opportunities in which you or your campus colleagues may be interested.

Risk Management Resources

  • "Recalibrating Regulation of Colleges and Universities," Congressional Task Force on Federal Regulation of Higher Education. This report from the American Council on Education and the Lumina Foundation examines the burden of government regulation on higher education institutions in light of the Higher Education Act renewal.
  • "Campus Law Enforcement, 2011-12," US Department of Justice. This special report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics records the use of sworn and armed law enforcement officers on four-year campuses.
  • ARM study course from Google's Erike Young. Available to URMIA members AT NO COST! Contact Erike for more information, and be sure to mention your URMIA membership.
  • International Resource Center, National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO). Visit the IRC for the latest international travel news and an extensive list of international risk resources.
  • Higher Education Compliance Alliance, National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA). Check out the latest compliance and governmental affairs resources from NACUA and their partners.

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URMIA Members in the News

 Members in the News
Copyright Lena Vasiljeva

Help us welcome our newest members, and see what professional updates your colleagues have to share from the last month.

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Have an article or news to share? Send it to the editor!

FEATURED ARTICLE

Is Good Enough Good Enough? Five Steps to Understanding the RFP Process

By Jeff Marshall, Risk Management Consultant focusing on public and education risk management issues. You can follow Jeff through his blog, The Risk Management Guy, or reach him on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jeffreydmarshall.

Back in college, I took a course in rhetoric. I remember walking into class one day and being greeted by a rather rude poster with an image of a pile of fecal matter covered in flies. The caption read, “10 million flies can’t be wrong. Eat [fecal matter].” The lecture was on the use and abuse of numbers and statistics. I had forgotten (or repressed) the class for the last few decades until about 3 months ago when I found myself seated in a conference room surrounded by stacks of request for proposal (RFP) responses and a team of less-than-enthusiastic submission reviewers.

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News Briefs

Measles and Other Communicable Diseases: What's Your Vaccination Policy?
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Proposed Privacy Policy Aims to Protect Student Data
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Drones on Campus? The Future Is Now!
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Advisory Released Warning of Tax Season Scams and Hackers
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UC-Berkeley's New Global Campus Will Be 10 Miles from Home
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Upcoming Events

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